The swamp gets even swampier

Paul Waldman

The Washington Post

“One of the enduring mysteries of Trump fandom” is that his supporters “continue to believe that he is a sworn enemy of ‘the swamp,’” said Paul Waldman. This president is the first in history to personally profit from the presidency, through payments from foreign governments and corporations to his hotels and businesses. And in Trump’s administration, old-fashioned corruption continues to flourish: It was revealed this week that Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao assigned a special liaison to help get $78 million in grants approved for projects in Kentucky favored by her husband, Sen. Mitch McConnell. We also learned this week that a real estate company partly owned by Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and a White House senior adviser, received $90 million in foreign funding through a secretive, Cayman Islands–based entity—including at least $1 million from Saudi Arabia. The Saudis and other foreign officials have reportedly targeted Kushner for manipulation by taking advantage of his business interests. No matter who succeeds Trump, “the danger is that Trump will have succeeded in normalizing his own behavior”—such as “maintaining financial interests that could affect policy decisions.” The swamp is now swampier than ever.